WOONSOCKET — A 51-year-old state legislator and businesswoman, whose uncle served as a Woonsocket mayor, won the mayor’s office herself in Tuesday’s general election, unseating Woonsocket’s two-term mayor.

WOONSOCKET — A 51-year-old state legislator and businesswoman, whose uncle served as a Woonsocket mayor, won the mayor’s office herself in Tuesday’s general election, unseating Woonsocket’s two-term mayor.

State Rep. Lisa Baldelli-Hunt soundly defeated Mayor Leo T. Fontaine, a longtime force in Woonsocket politics, collecting 66.6 percent of the vote. She received 4,372 votes to 2,128 for Fontaine, in unofficial results. Only 27 percent of the eligible voters cast ballots.

“It’s a new day so buckle up,” said the mayor-elect after she strode onto the stage at the Stadium Theatre to accept congratulations on her win.

She thanked her supporters and talked about the lives of hardworking Woonsocket residents struggling to put food on the table, write checks for mortgages and pay their “crushing taxes.”

“We can, and we must, turn this around,” she said.

One of her centerpiece campaign promises, to re-illuminate streetlights switched off in 2011 for budget reasons, reflects the desperate finances of the city that she hopes to govern.

Due to a budget deficit that brought Woonsocket to the brink of bankruptcy, the city’s finances are controlled not by the mayor and City Council, but by five members of a state-appointed Budget Commission.

Baldelli-Hunt will take Fontaine’s seat on the Budget Commission, where she will need to build consensus to turn on streetlights.

It’s not clear exactly when the commission will hand the reins back to Woonsocket officials, but when that happens they will be asked to keep budgets in sync with the commission’s five-year plan, which includes annual 4 percent tax hikes for the next four years and reductions in the homestead property exemption.

Fontaine, who met with supporters at the River Falls Restaurant, had asked voters to choose him as the person who would keep Woonsocket on the path to financial solvency.

“Obviously, I'm disappointed, but we did the best we could,” said Fontaine after the results were announced. “Many people are frustrated with the situation we are in, regardless of what caused this.”

Baldelli-Hunt graduated from Woonsocket High School in 1980. She attended Bryant, then known as Bryant College, but did not graduate, according to a spokeswoman for Bryant University. By the mid-1980s, she was heavily involved in fundraising for campaigns marshaled by her uncle, former Woonsocket Mayor Charles C. Baldelli.

She has worked for the U.S. Postal Service and also as a small-business owner and commercial real estate investor, according to posts on her House website.

She isn’t a stranger to political controversy.

In 2008, Woonsocket city officials, including then-Mayor Susan Menard, constructed a budget plan around Baldelli-Hunt’s offer to have her real estate company pay $1.1 million for the purchase of Ayotte Field. Less than 30 days from the new budget year, Baldelli-Hunt pulled out of the deal.

The episode was in the distant past Tuesday night as Baldelli-Hunt introduced her three sons, her husband and her mother at her victory rally and promised to work with everyone in government, including colleagues in state government, to bring effective leadership to the city. She said she would resign her House seat, which she has held since 2006.

She also promised to spend the first 100 days in office gathering input from residents and officials throughout the city and developing a detailed plan of action.

“My door will always be open to you because I need your ideas and I need your suggestions,” she said.